Flickering faith.

Yao Jun and Wyrmheart gazed at each other, both of them were very well aware of the fact that either of them could easily cross the few kilometres that separated them. An inkling of a curious sensation surfaced in Wyrmheart's chest as she looked at Yao Jun, at the tip of the glaive that was pointed straight at her head.

How many years had it been since she was last threatened like this? How many thousands of years had she gone without having a weapon pointed at her in this manner, when was it someone had last looked at her with such disregard. But whatever that inkling was, she immediately smothered it. Yao Jun's attack may only have cracked one of her scales, but that was only the opening attack so it was most likely not his full force. He had to be taken serious, distractions would be dangerous.

Her feet rolled forward, her toes lightly kicking off the ground, and with the sound of cutting wind, she vanished from her position. Yao Jun's brows furrowed for a slight second, he noticed that he couldn't actually pinpoint her position. It was as if she merged into the wind, her energy signature radiating out from every single inch of air within the surrounding few tens of kilometres.

But then she reached his side, and from such a close range it would be much harder for her to trick his senses. But generally, it would be enough, she was already within range for her fist to reach him after all. Yao Jun's pupils riveted towards her, she had specifically chosen to attack from his left since he held his glaive with his right hand.

But Yao Jun wasn't some helpless sheep just because she managed to get close. He pulled his glaive back and tucked his hand against his waist, holding the glaive horizontally behind his back. He jabbed out with the base of the weapon, the bottom of the pole heading directly for Wyrmheart's head. Wind and lightning swirled around the pole, turning the blunt weapon into a ferocious drill that would effortlessly pierce any metal.

Wyrmheart could easily read Yao Jun's intentions, he was more than fine with trading wound for wound with her. But she was after all an exalted Godking, Yao Jun wasn't an easy opponent, but the same was true for her. The pole quickly reached her, an invisible layer of wind emerging from her skin and quickly taking in the wind that surrounded the pole. The wind formed a defensive layer on her body, continuously flowing like a never-ending breeze.

The pole was gently guided along by the wind, all the power of the jab spread out across the entire surface of the defensive shield as the attack was diverted to brush past her. The lightning on it still arced across her body and pierced through the wind, but it was weakened enough to only make some of her muscles twitch.

As for her attack, it landed squarely on Yao Jun's waist, the tips of her sharp brass knuckle digging into his flesh. Lightning poured forth from the wound and washed over her arm, but crimson flames surged out from her skin and swallowed up the lightning. The flames instantly rushed to the tip of her hand, the brass knuckle gathering them up for an instant before unleashing them at doubled intensity.

The flames gouged out a fist-sized indent in Yao Jun's abdomen and continued onwards, fanning out until they resembled a blazing sun that tore through the city for several kilometres. But Wyrmheart's expression didn't ease up when she saw the result, it only sank further.

The Yao Jun that had just lost a good portion of his abdomen wavered and flickered, the entire body rippling like a disturbed lake. Wyrmheart immediately threw herself forward, her movement a bit awkward since she had crouched slightly to reach Yao Jun's side. The sharp blade of a white glaive slammed down behind her just as she threw herself forward, an ear-piercing screeching sound tearing at the ears of everyone present as the tip of the weapon cut across the scales she had grown on her back.

The glaive unleashed a violent force, more lightning gushing forth and arcing across her body. A heavy gust of wind sent her flying forward, a dull pain echoing through her back as she quickly rolled forward. She rolled directly through the Yao Jun she had just punched, the entire body collapsing into a puddle of water.

"I really hate water cultivators who focus on this aspect..."

She quickly finished her roll and spun around while muttering, the dull pain on her back turning a bit searing. But she didn't even get the chance to inspect her back, Yao Jun had already arrived in front of her, accompanied by the sound of rumbling thunder. His glaive was raised high, crackling with violet lightning as he slammed it down towards her head.

Wyrmheart snorted coldly, the earth beneath her feet cracking as she gathered her energy. She gave her body a slight twist and extended her arm while rising, delivering a simple uppercut to Yao Jun's descending glaive. Her arm bulged violently the moment her brass knuckle contacted his glaive, her entire arm actually tripled in size.

And the force behind her attack was similarly magnified, a grating screeching sound spreading out as the two attacks tried to erode the power of the other. Wyrmheart's already extended fist unleashed violent blades of wind, those that missed Yao Jun gouging out large swathes of earth. As for those that got close to him, the shadow cast by Yao Jun's hair rose up and swallowed them all, a black orb appearing behind Wyrmheart and spitting the blades back out.

Wyrmheart's brows furrowed slightly, but she decided to ignore the wind coming at her from behind and instead lashed out with her other fist, aiming a punch directly at Yao Jun's chest. Yao Jun's pupils slid down to gaze at the incoming fist, his other hand intercepting it with an open palm.

Wyrmheart's arm swelled just like her other arm, a somewhat bloody scent wafting forth as the power of her punch was magnified. Her fist made contact with Yao Jun's palm, and it was exactly at this moment that Yao Jun decided to act.

Just like Ba-Shei had taught him, just as he had experimented on earlier, he touched upon the golden threads of faith that had gathered within him. But he didn't touch upon just one this time, he drew forth energy from every single one of them and instantly exploded forth with power.

The blades of wind assaulting Wyrmheart from the back immediately magnified in power as he added in his own Qi and law of wind, each of them smashing into her back at full force. As for the fist he blocked, dark violet flames tinged with a faint layer of gold erupted out from his palm, swallowing up the fire that Wyrmheart had just unleashed from her fist.

Wyrmheart felt a sharp pain assault her back, a searing pain frantically eating away at her outstretched arm. Her pupils instantly shrank, but she didn't allow herself a single moment of negligence, stomping the ground with all her might. A stream of power flowed into her from the ground, her entire body momentarily swelling just like her arms had.

The instantaneous burst of power was all pushed towards Yao Jun like a burst of violent wind, his feet losing contact with the ground as he was flung backwards. The blast of wind didn't abate in the slightest, maintaining its intensity as it gouged out a five-kilometre wide and nearly 20-kilometre long gash in the city. When it finally halted and gave Yao Jun the chance to stabilize his position, everything between him and Wyrmheart had already become flattened.

Yao Jun could hear screams, they rang through the air like a symphony of insanity and chaos. A Godking and someone equal to that was currently fighting in the midst of the city, it was worse than any natural disaster that the universe could throw at them. Yao Jun's pupils moved slightly, his head unconsciously nodding when he saw that Zhuan Yi and Sirius had already retreated to safety, watching the unfolding battle from a vantage point in the air. He saw that Arthurius had also escaped to the ship he came on, dragging Zhao Shen with him for some reason. Once he finished checking on his companions, his gaze slid back onto Wyrmheart.

"Your transcendency is a joke."

Wyrmheart couldn't even muster up the will to retort Yao Jun's barefaced insult, her expression dark as she examined herself. Her left hand was scorched, burnt so badly that the scales on it had turned white and were flaking away into ash. Her back also had several new cuts, the blades of wind had cut through her scales and torn at her flesh.

Both were laws she had fused into her unique laws so she should be above being wounded by them. Yet Yao Jun had used both of them to inflict painful wounds on her body, it really made it look like her transcendency was nothing more than a wishful dream.

Her hand reached behind her back and traced the cuts, her lungs drawing in a sharp breath as that almost unfamiliar pain hit her. But she was too focused on the pain from those cuts, so she failed to notice a small spot on her lower back where a hole had appeared in one of her scales. This hole was where Yao Jun's glaive had cut her earlier when she threw herself forward, and his law of dissolving was still surrounding the hole, forcing it to grow larger without halt.

Wyrmheart stopped tracing the wounds on her back, her expression turning steely as she straightened her posture. She stretched out her burnt arm, the entire city seeming to tremble in response to her actions. A ripple of power spread out from her body, enveloping everything within 50 kilometres around her. And then, once the ripple reached its max range, all the living beings that had been touched by it exploded into a cloud of blood.

Yao Jun was the only one spared this fate, the ripple simply hadn't been powerful enough to rock him. But a veritable ocean of blood had formed in the city thanks to Wyrmheart's actions, only adding on to the chaos that was already taking place. But that ocean of blood didn't last for long, it followed the ripple as it retreated, all the blood sinking into Wyrmheart's body.

The wounds she had suffered immediately healed, only that small spot on her back remaining as the law of dissolving continued to eat away at it. Wyrmheart's body swelled up to nearly ten times its original size, but that change was quickly brought under control so she returned to her normal size. But the aura she was now radiating had grown many times stronger, the scent of blood hanging heavy in the air around her.

"This isn't over yet, Yao Jun."

Her dark brown eyes had turned entirely crimson after she took in all the blood, the law of blood was the third law she had fused into her unique law, forming the law of Scorched Atmosphere. There was quite a bit of distance separating them, but even so, the force of her aura blew against Yao Jun like wind, rustling his hair as he raised his glaive again.

"Oh, but it is, you just don't know it yet."

Yao Jun once more drew upon the threads of faith that were connected to him, his own aura skyrocketing. He had quite a few threads of golden faith, some from his Demonic beasts and some that he had just acquired naturally over the years as more people saw his power and actions. His attention was fully focused on Wyrmheart, and because of that, he was sadly unable to notice a strange scene that took place within him.

One of the golden threads of faith, one of the few connected to one of the eight fragments that orbited the galaxy in his chest, flickered weakly at the moment. It dimmed slightly at times but would then turn bright again, as if it was trying its hardest to linger and glow. But just like a flame flickering in the wind, it only grew dimmer and dimmer, weaker and weaker. And before long, the thread flickered one final time, turning completely black and then vanishing.